DARKHOLD REDEEMERS
Membership: Sam Buchanan, Louise Hastings, Victoria Montesi, Jinx, Modred the Mystic
Purpose: Oppose the actions of the agents of Chthon; Prevent or minimize damage caused by use of pages of the Darkhold
Affiliations: Blood (Caretaker, Embyrre, Foundry, Raydar, Regent, Seer,
Truthsayer), Agatha Harkness, Sabretooth, Scarlet Witch
Midnight Sons (Blade, John Blaze, Frank Drake, Dr. Strange, Ghost
Rider/Dan Ketch, Hannibal King, Morbius,
Vengeance), Vittorio Montesi,
the Nine (Blade, John Blaze, Frank Drake, Ghost Rider/Dan Ketch/Noble Kale,
Louise Hastings, Hannibal King, Victoria Montesi, Morbius);
Enemies: Chthon, Darkholders (DeGuzman), Diabolique, the Dwarf,
Fallen , General Mark
Hamilton, Mr. Hayward,
the Lilin (Bad Timing, Blackout, Bloodthirst, Dark Legion, Doc, Fang, Girth, Infinks, Meatmarket, Nakota, Outcast,
Parasite, Pilgrim, Pixil, Short Circuit, Sister Nil, Skinner, Skitter, Spitfire),
Lilith, Mercy, Monstrosity, N'Garai,
Paralyzer, Spider-X, Reverend Styge,
Switchblade, Morton Thurnton, Troids, Donald J. Walsh,
Zarathos, Zzzax
Base of Operations: Louise Hastings' mansion, New Hope, Connecticut
First Appearance: Darkhold#1 (October, 1992)
History: During the events of the storyline referred to as the Rise of the Midnight Sons, the demon-queen Lilith and her children, the Lilin, were released from a long period of imprisonment. In the chaos that ensued, a number of groups and individuals gathered together to combat these demons. At the same time, the Dwarf and the Other began actively manipulating people to use pages from the Darkhold, in order to gain power for their lord, Chthon. Victoria Montesi, a woman from a line of priests who safeguarded and prevented misuse of the Darkhold, began to have visions every time a page was used. After an attempt on Victoria's life by the Darkholders, Interpol, at the request of the Vatican, assigned agent Sam Buchanan to protect her. Meanwhile, John Blaze, one of those who would become the Midnight Sons, contacted Louise Hastings, an expert on the occult after a vision by another member warned that Hastings could become a target of Lilith. Hastings, with Blaze and the Ghost Rider, and Montesi and Buchanan each followed leads to the house of Donald Walsh, who had invoked the Chameleon Worm spell from the Darkhold. After successfully eradicating the Chameleon Worms, Buchanan, Hastings, and Montesi decided to stay together to investigate the use of the pages from the Darkhold. After several encounters, the group was joined by William Hastings, aka Jinx, the grandson of Louise, who possessed innate mystical powers.
Buchanan did not believe in the supernatural initially, and despite several direct encounters continued to remain skeptical. In fact, he suspected Montesi as actually being behind the events, because of her clairvoyant abilities which gave her knowledge of the events before anyone else. Based on orders from his superior, DeGuzman, who was secretly the leader of a sect of the Darkholders, Buchanan and the other Darkholders planned to use a letter-bomb threat to convince others to send in the pages to keep them out of the hands of the public. In fact, the DeGuzman planned this plot in order to reassemble the book for use by his sect. With deliberate mis-information from his DeGuzman, Buchanan actually brought Montesi to the Darkholders' base. After learning the truth, Buchanan helped free Montesi, while DeGuzman and the sect of the Darkholders were slaughtered by the demon-child, Diabolique.
The Darkholders were soon joined by the centuries old sorcerer, Modred the Mystic, who had his own soul tainted by the Darkhold. Shortly after that, several members of the Darkholders were slain by Switchblade II, who was actually the Midnight Son, Blade, who used the Demogorge page of the Darkhold in an effort to destroy all magical beings. Hastings ultimately used another page of the Darkhold to stop Switchblade and revive his victims. Hastings was morally crushed by what she had been forced to do, and took some time off. Montesi also used a page of the Darkhold in order to cure her friend and lover, Nash Salvato. This resulted in the being Monstrosity being formed and attempting to kill all others Montesi encountered. Montesi managed to throw off the effects of the Darkhold and destroy the Monstrosity.
The fact that the Montesi family was supposed to be "incorruptible," and yet Victoria had used a page of the Darkhold, led Hastings to investigate Victoria's past. Hastings learned Victoria's true nature, as actually being a creation of the Darkhold, which further demoralized her. Before she could tell the truth to Victoria, Louise was slain by another Midnight Son, Morbius, who was possessed by the Lilin Bloodthirst. This occurred during the events of the Siege of Darkness, which involved the union of the demons Lilith and Zarathos. As this battle escalated, Modred sent Jinx off to the Vatican for protection, under the care of Vittorio Montesi, the father of Victoria. Modred, who also learned the truth about Victoria, also left the group during these events. Sam and Vicki, possessing minimal ability to directly combat the powerful demons, sat out the final battle against Zarathos. Shortly after this, Victoria at last learned her own true nature, as she found she was carrying the demon Chthon within her, which would then be born into reality on Earth. These events pulled her away from Buchanan, and the Redeemers dissolved permanently.
Comments: Created by Christopher Cooper and Richard Case.
See files on individual members for further information.
Modred has his own entry in the OHotMU I#7, Deluxe#8, and Master Edition, as well as the UHotMU web page.
The group never really went by the name Darkhold Redeemers, but no one could think of a better one, and every group needs a name.
In OHotMU 2006#3 it became their official name.
Clarifications: The Darkhold Redeemers have no connection to:
Appearances:
Darkhold#1 (October, 1992) - Chris Cooper (writer), Richard Case (pencils), Mark McKenna (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Ghost Rider III#31 (November, 1992) - Howard Mackie (writer), Andy Kubert (pencils), Joe Kubert (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Darkhold#2 (November, 1992) - Chris Cooper (writer), Richard Case (pencils), Mark McKenna (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Darkhold#3 (December, 1992) - Chris Cooper (writer), Tony Harris (pencils), Jimmy Palmiotti (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Darkhold#4 (January, 1993) - Chris Cooper (writer), Norman Felchle
(pencils), Mark McKenna & Andrew Pepoy (inks), Hildy Mesnik (editor)
Darkhold#5 (February, 1993) - Chris Cooper (writer), Richard Case &
Al Bigley (pencils), Mark McKenna & Ariane (inks), Hildy Mesnik
& Bobbie Chase (editors)
Darkhold#6 (March, 1993) - Chris Cooper (writer), Richard Case & Al
Bigley (pencils), Stan Woch & Ariane (inks), Hildy Mesnik &
Bobbie Chase (editor)
Midnight Sons Unlimited#1 (April, 1993) - Howard Mackie (writer), Klaus Janson (artist), Hildy Mesnik (editor)
Darkhold#7-8 (April-May, 1993) - Chris Cooper (writer), Rurik Tyler
(pencils), Bud LaRosa (inks), Hildy Mesnik & Bobbie Chase (editors)
Midnight Sons Unlimited#2 (July, 1993) - Chris Cooper (writer), Dan
Lawlis (pencils), Mike Esposito (inks), Hildy Mesnik (editor)
Morbius#12 (August, 1993) - Gregory Wright (writer), Ron Wagner (pencils), Mike Witherby (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Spirits of Vengeance#13 (August, 1993) - Howard Mackie (writer), Adam
Kubert (pencils), Joe Kubert, Dan Green, Klaus Janson & Frank
Spinks (inks)
Morbius#13 (September, 1993) - Gregory Wright (writer), Ron Wagner
& Henry Martinez (pencils), Andrew Pepoy & Sam de la Rosa
(inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Midnight Sons Unlimited#3 (October, 1993) - Mort Todd (writer), Ken Meyer Jr.(artist), Hildy Mesnik (editor)
Nightstalkers#14-15 (December, 1993 - January, 1994) - Steven Grant (writer), Andrew Wildman (pencils), Frank Turner (inks)
Ghost Rider III#44 (December, 1993) - Howard Mackie (writer), Ron Garney (pencils), Chris Ivy (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Spirits of Vengeance#17 (December, 1993) - Howard Mackie (writer), Henry Martinez (pencils), Keith Williams (inks)
Morbius#16-17 (December, 1993 - January, 1994) - Gregory Wright
(writer), Isaac Cordova (pencils), Andrew Pepoy (inks), Bobbie Chase
(editor)
Dr. Strange III#60-61 (December, 1993 - January, 1994) - David Quinn
(writer), Melvin Rubi (pencils), Fred Harper (inks), Evan Skolnick
(editor)
Darkhold#9-16 (June, 1993 - January, 1994) - Chris Cooper (writer),
Rurik Tyler (pencils), Bob Downs & Malcolm Jones III (#16) (inks),
Hildy Mesnik & Bobbie Chase (editors)
Ghost Rider III#45 (January, 1994) - Howard Mackie (writer), Ron Garney (pencils), Chris Ivy (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Marvel Comics Presents#145 (January, 1994) - Chris Cooper (writer),
Reggie Jones (pencils), Rey Garcia (#145) & Fred Harper (#146)
(inks), Richard Ashford (editor)
Spirits of Vengeance#18 (January, 1994) - Howard Mackie (writer), Henry Martinez (pencils), Bud LaRosa (inks)
Midnight Sons Unlimited#4 (January, 1994) - D.G. Chichester (writer),
John Hixson & John Bridges (pencils), Bill Anderson, Rich Rankin
& Scott Koblish (inks), Evan Skolnick (editor)
First Posted: 09/08/2001
Last updated: 08/03/2002
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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